Re: conversion from xy to dbf

["Patricia M. Godfrey" PriscaMG@xxxxxxxx]

AndyCh wrote:
> I have a long xy file,
> 1) 1=item1 2=item2 3=item3
> 2) 1=item1 2=item2 3=item3
> ............................................
>
> is there a good way to export all data to a dbf file ?
>
> Thanks.
Sure. First, let's use accurate terminology: 1), 2), and so on are
records; item1, item2, and so on are fields. End each record with a
CR/LF. Put a tab character between each field within a record. If there
are spaces or punctuation marks within any fields, enclose all instances
of that field in quotation marks (standard ASCII ones, not smart
quotes). Carefully note the maximum length of each field and the type of
content (e.g., if any have numbers, dates, logical values, etc.). Open
your database app and create a table with as many fields as you have in
your XY file per record (that is, if each record has 3 fields, create a
database table with 3 fields). Define their types to match those of the
Xy file; e.g., any field enclosed in quotes is of type CHARACTER; any
with a number is of type NUMERIC; any with a date is of type DATE.
Define their lengths to that of the longest one (e.g., let's say field 3
is 12 characters long in record 1, 10 characters long in record 2, and
25 characters long in record 15; you make it a 25-character-long field
of type CHARACTER in your database). Once you have the table defined,
use the database's import text file function, specifying that the file
is TAB delimited.
Or you could do this, if you have a decent spreadsheet program. Set up
the fields and records in Xy. Define the lot (or do it in chunks if OOM
looms or it looks as if you will go over Clip's limits), use U2's Clip
function to copy to the Windows clipboard, then paste into a blank
spreadsheet. Once you have everything in the spreadsheet, you can tweak
anything that might have gotten misaligned, then SAve AS a dbf file. I
jsut tried that with a very short file, pasting to Lotus 1-2-3, and it
worked fine. Spreadsheets tend to more readily recognize tab-delimited
files than modern databases do. Good luck and don't hesitate to ask if
more advice is needed. As I said a while back, Xy and database is a
marriange made in heaven (and database is what computers are all about;
everything else is lagniappe.)

Patricia M. Godfrey
PriscaMG@xxxxxxxx